The ColdFront diced product chilling system is designed for integration with existing equipment to rapidly cool product prior to dicing or slicing.
Processing hot, cooked food products often led to evaporative losses of greater than 10%, the company explained. The new system could reduce these losses by up to 50%, resulting in increased yield and improved product quality, it claimed.
Pre-chill
In addition, the system can also be used to pre-chill other hot, steaming products, such as hot wings or pulled pork, prior to mechanical freezing.
This resulted in improved freezer efficiency, reduced defrost time and reduced rework associated with soft product, it said.
Additional benefits of ColdFront include minimal downtime requirements for installation, a space-saving design and low capital investment, compared to traditional chilling methods, added Praxair.
Quick payback period
"The low capital investment coupled with the improved yield performance results in a very quick payback period for the processor," according to the firm.
The complete piece of equipment includes a cryogen supply and storage system, a pre-chilling system and a high performance flighted chilling system.
Praxair has dedicated a section of its website to helping processors that consider using the system calculate the potential annual savings it can deliver.
The company is showcasing the equipment at the International Production and Processing Expo, which runs from January 29-31 in Atlanta in the US.
Praxair is one of the largest industrial gas companies in the world, clocking up 2011 sales of US$11bn.